MEs such as mobile telephones include a UICC which, among other things, holds secure data for identifying the user to the core network. The UICC is a smart card that has an inbuilt microprocessor and memory that can run a number of software applications. Typically the network operators have the possibility to set some default network related parameters in the mobile handsets before they are released to the market. One set of these parameters is related to the network access point on the network side to which the mobile handset has to connect in order to establish a packet connection for ME or UICC software applications (Browser, data download from an operator server, etc).
The standards setting Organization ETSI is in the process of finalizing Release 7 (Rel-7) of its standards documents (including TS 102 221, TS 102 600 and TS 102 223) relating to the interaction between the ME and its UICC. Prior to Rel-7, most network operators usually only had one access point for all UICC applications. However, from Rel-7 onwards, things have been radically changed with the definition of the USB high speed ME-UICC interface and the support of TCP/IP stacks in the UICC. These new features have opened up new business opportunities for network operators who can now extend the number of value-added software applications (residing in the UICC) proposed to the end user. Naturally many of these UICC software applications will interact with the operator network. Currently this may be done using one of two approaches:                The UICC application does not specify any access point parameters when it passes the relevant proactive command (typically a Launch Browser or an Open Channel command) to the ME. In this case, the ME will connect to the default access point using its predefined default parameters stored in the ME.        The UICC application does specify parameters for an access point in the relevant proactive command to the ME. In this case, the ME will use these parameters to connect to the indicated access point.        
The first approach is only applicable when the UICC application wants to connect to the default access point. The inventor has realized that this is likely to have limited utility as network operators are likely to provide different access points for different services and therefore, the second approach is more likely to be used. However, the second approach is relatively cumbersome as the UICC has to send the parameters for the desired access point with every proactive command and the ME has to interpret those parameters in each command.